i pick up the knife and i went back to the bedroom. i took the sheets off. and i cut him. >> the shocking story that made international headlines. now, 25 years later, john bobbitt is telling his side of the story to abc's amy robach. >> lorena has said that you were physically abusive to her. >> she was physically abusive to me. >> john bobbitt in his own words recounting that fateful night. >> when i sprung up and i was bleeding, something out of a horror movie. >> tonight inside the marriage of john and lorena bobbitt that started out with such hope and promise. >> he was a very nice guy. we started dating. that's how i really fell in love with him. >> and ended with an unthinkable act of violence that stunned the

nation. >> no idea what happened. when i fell asleep, she cut my penis off. i didn't know what transpired there. >> this special edition of "nightline," "the bobbitts, love hurts," will be right back. hurts," will be right back. what'with coverage havinthroughout your home? how about having internet that can help you

save on wireless phone service? xfinity gives you the fastest speeds from america's best internet provider to stream on all your devices. plus, with xfinity mobile included, you can switch your wireless carrier and save hundreds of dollars a year. now that's simple, easy, awesome. get started for $29.99 a month for 12 months. plus, ask how you can get xfinity mobile included so all you pay for is data. switch today. this special edition of "nightline," "the bobbitts: love hurts" continues. i pick up the knife and i

went back to the bedroom. i took the sheets off. and i cut him. >> in her left hand she has the penis in her right hand she has the knife. >> one of the most talked-about stories of the struck a nerve. >> the sorid details of a marriage gone berserk. >> reporter: the 24-year-old manicurist from venezuela is accused of severing the penis of her husband while he was sleeping. >> from the moment anyone heard about this story it was, what? because it's mythic. >> it's been 25 years. but even today i imagine if you walk into a store, you hand somebody your credit card, you say your name, you get a reaction? >> yeah, they're shocked or startled or, wow, you're the guy? you're that guy? yeah. >> reporter: john was a marine.

lorena a recent immigrant from venezuela besotted with the american dream. they met at a marine corps ball. tell me what you thought when you first saw lorena. >> saw her over there, looks shy and innocent. umr. t over and asked her to we stasy. thow really ll in lo with him. >> they talked about getting married but that marriage got rushed when her green card or visa or whatever was running out. >> i never really expected to have a perfect marriage. but i knew there's things that if you -- you know, you can compromise and you cope. >> 1991, john gets discharged from the marine corps. so he is kind of without a steady paycheck. and he scraps and he tries. lorena is the main breadwinner. >> what was lorena doing for a living? >> she was working as a nanny

for janet. jan janet, you know -- working for her at the beauty salon doing nails. >> janet vesuti was a businesswoman who owned the nail cuttery. >> janet was a little bit of a mother figure at that point. lorena oftentimes seemed to have cried on janet's shoulder. jat thaedo >> she saidhe loved him and sh going to do anything to try to make her marriage work. >> what would you be fighting about? >> tv, the radio, stupid stuff. we were young. just fight over things we shouldn't have been fighting over. she was stubborn, she was selfish, she wanted things her way. >> they were a couple who were tempestuous, in their loves, tempestuous in their jealousies, tempestuous in their fights. >> how soon did you feel he began getting beyond speaking, becoming physically abusive to you? >> um -- like a month after -- >> one month?

>> yes. >> into the marriage? >> yes. >> she got upset if anybody talked to me. some girl. i look in a girl's direction, she would get mad. >> she punched you? >> yes. >> lorena has said that you were physically abusive to her. >> yeah, well, turn things around. like i say, she was physically abusive to me. she never went to the hospital, never had anything seriously wrong with her at all. a lot of turmoil. it wasn't like we were out to kill each other. >> you never fought back? >> subdue her, restrain her. not to hit her or anything. >> he forced me into sex. he told me that he was -- that that kind of sexual sex, forced sex, excited him. and i would just cry. >> like so many of the ac cases that fly back and forth between john and lorena, this one is hard to reconcile. john denies he was ever excited

by violent sex. >> when lorena talks about her marriage with john, it's a nightmare from beginning to end. john maintains that he never hit her. but he admits that he might have kind of pushed her a little, or when he was restraining her he might have been rough. >> what's your definition of spousal abuse? >> it can be anything. punching a hole in the wall, verbal abuse, calling somebody a slut, whore, tramp -- >> did you do any of those things? moments of anger did you push her, shove her? >> yeah, we fought. >> but that's not spousal abuse? >> i think that's fighting with each other. >> did it leave marks when you restrained her? >> of course. i mean, i may have marks on me but i didn't flaunt them. >> in the course of your marriage did you become pregnant by john? >> yes, i did. i was very excited because -- i mean, i wanted to have a child. >> what did he say? do you remember?

>> he said that i -- i would not be able to -- to raise a child. for some reason. i said, i think i will be a wonderful mother. >> did you have the abortion for him? >> yes. >> you felt you would lose him without it? >> i didn't want to have a child without a father. >> you weren't ready anyways. i suggested, yeah, we should wait. she wasn't happy about it. but, you know. what can you do? >> she never recovered from the trauma of an abortion that she wasn't completely on board for. and she carried the terrible trauma for her, the guilt, right up into the moment that she picked up that knife. >> how often did you say "no" to

his sexual advances? did he physically and sexually abuse you? ryo fh w in s again. i would wake up shaking and scared. and i would have nightmares. >> the tensions are building and building and building in this marriage. >> john i think in the week prior said, look, this is not working out, so i'm going to get a divorce. >> it hit her like a ton of bricks. she was crying, begging, said she didn't believe in divorce. >> the day before the incident takes place, a friend of john's, robert johnston, from buffalo, comes and stays with the couple. >> me and robby said, well, since you're here, let's go out and have some fun. let's go and hang out and show you around d.c.

we went out, had drinks. >> the last thing she did that night, she had some literature on rape that she had read that night and put it on the night stand. and he comes in loaded to the gills with alcohol, and he decides to crawl in bed, help himself. because, you know, that's my wife. >> did you speak at all? to lorena? before you went to sleep? >> no. i remember her trying to, you know, play with me, you know. but i was sleeping, exhausted. i couldn't respond to her advances. either sexually or verbally. >> he jumped on top of me. and he -- he started to -- grabbing my arms really tight

like before he always do. and so i said, i don't want to have sex. and i was trying to push him but i couldn't. he forced me into it. i heard my underwear was ripping off. and i was just fighting it. it feels like i was fighting everything. >> so you say she was trying to have sex with you, and you were too tired? >> right. >> that's a pretty big swing from her saying you forcibly tore off her underwear and raped her. >> yeah. everything was done in my sleep. sexual advances, the talking, all in a deep sleep. >> you say you didn't rape her? >> no, never raped anybody in my life. >> is it possible that you were trying -- >> no, no idea -- >> that you were trying to have second -- >> she put my penis off, didn't know what transpired there. >> he assaults her and she's just laying there thinking, not again.

and she went into the kitchen to get a glass of water. she saw the knife. >> it was so many things coming into my mind. i don't know how to describe. things like, from the very first, he hit me. things about the abortion. you know, so many things. when he was torturing me, when he was beating me up, when he forced sex with me, everything. it just came so fast. i pick up the knife and i went back to the bedroom. i took the sheets off. i cut him. >> when i sprung up and i was bleeding, i was applying pressure.

immediately i thought it was something out of a horror movie. >> it was a nightmare but it was real. >> turned into reality. horrified, terrified. that was it, going to die. >> she flees the apartment. in her left hand she has the penis. in her right hand she has the knife. and drives off into the night. >> stay with us. with moderate to severe crohn's disease, i was there, just not always where i needed to be. is she alright? i hope so. so i talked to my doctor about humira. i learned humira is for people who still have symptoms of crohn's disease after trying other medications. and the majority of people on humira saw significant symptom relief and many achieved remission in as little as 4 weeks. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis.

serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. be there for you, and them. ask your gastroenterologist about humira. with humira, remission is possible. this is charlie not coughing because he took delsym 12-hour. and this is charlie still not coughing while getting a little too into nana's party. "surprise!" delsym 12-hour. nothing lasts longer for powerful cough relief. if these packs have the same number of bladder leak pads, i bet you think bigger is better. actually, it's bulkier. always discreet quickly turns liquid to gel, for drier protection that's a lot less bulky. always discreet.

red lobster's new weekday five days.s here: five deals. mondaymiral'tuesdafeasdnd more. five days. five deals. fifteen dollars. see you before six. stop fearing your alarm clock... with zzzquil pure zzzs. a drug-free blend of botanicals with melatonin that supports your natural sleep cycle so you can seize the morning. zzzquil pure zzzs.

this special edition of "nightline," "the bobbitts: love hurts" continues. here again, amy robach.

>> reporter: is lorena bobbitt a greedy, jealous woman who sexually mutilated her husband -- large kitchen knife, cut off her sleeping husband's penis. >> she turns around, marches back into the bedroom, and just does the deed. never thought i'd say that on network television. >> my name's jim sane, you're ro urologist. i lived a quite life and that changed for me june 23rd, 1993. the phone on my bedside woke me up in the middle of the night. and really all i knew about this on the way into the hospital was that a penis had been amputated and the organ was missing. >> what's the first thing you did when you woke up? >> i cleared my thoughts and applied pressure. i went into -- in to wake my friend up to tell him to get me to the hospital.

>> describe the look on your doctor's face when you showed him what lorena had done. >> like his jaw dropped. >> i knew i had to get a microvascular surgeon. >> we've got this guy here, his penis has been cut off, can you come down and put it back on? okay, do you have the penis? they said, no. >> meanwhile, lorena has been in the apartment with really a knife in one hand and his penis in the other. and she goes downstairs to her car. >> i remember i couldn't make a turn. because i -- my hands were -- with something on it. so i -- i tried to turn. but then i -- i saw that i have it in my hand. >> you were still holding his severed penis in the car? >> yes. yes. and so i look at it, i scream.

i threw it. out of the window. and i just drive as fast as i could. driving fast and faster. >> my husband said, lorena's here. i said, oh my god, what has john done to her? and i walked down the stairs and she's huddled in the corner of my living room screaming and crying, in like a fetal position. and then she said, i cut his penis off. and i said, you did what? and i said, well, i think we better call 911. >> jenna from lorena is able to find out the rough coordinates of the penis. so jenna tells the police roughly where the penis is located. >> we ended up coming out here to look for it after learning that the wife had thrown it out

the car window. >> police went to that field. it was about 6:00 on a june morning. the police scavenged about, found the organ undamaged. no dogs had chatted on it. it was retrievable. >> the police find the penis by the grassy knoll by the 7-eleven. they go into the 7-eleven with the penis, get a hot dog container, fill it with ice, put the penis on top of the ice, that's how they take it to the hospital. >> then hours of surgery ensue. and it's reattached. >> lorena bobbitt appeared on the verge of tears as she appeared in court -- >> she was charged with malicious wounding. >> do you understand that charge? >> yes. >> that means she not only wounded and severed his penis, but she did it with malice, hatred, revenge. she was looking at probably 20 years. >> while we were in the hospital we found out that john was going to be charged with marital sexual assault. we couldn't believe it. >> how long did you have to stay in the hospital? >> three weeks. >> when did you know that everything was going to be back

to normal, or at least close to normal? >> the second week they called my mom. told her that i had an erection. >> what was your mom's reaction? >> she didn't want to hear that. she said, talk to your dad about that. i was excited. >> how quickly did you know that what happened that night was going to be a very big story? >> no, i knew it was -- it was big. because they were trying to, you know, keep the reporters from coming up at the hospital. they were trying to get into the room. >> what was so unusual here is that they both ended up in the legal crosshairs. both charged with crimes. both facing trials. >> john bobbitt arrived surrounded by attorneys. >> both bobbitts went to trial. john first in november of 1993, was found not guilty of marital sexual assault. >> you ever worry that the jury wouldn't believe you, that they would think you raped lorena? >> i was innocent. i didn't know why i was there. >> lorena bobbitt faced a jury of seven women and five men --

>> lorena bobbitt found not guilty of malicious wounding by season of insanity two months later. >> everybody was shocked. how could somebody get away with it? >> sometimes juries do a kind of rough justice. they look at what happened and they said, that's enough. >> next what john and lorena are doing today. this is a cell. so are all these. they work together doing important stuff... like keeping your vital organs running and what not. the hitch? like you, your cells get hungry. feed them... with centrum® micronutrients. restoring your awesome... on the daily. feed your cells with centrum® micronutrients today.

on the daily. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ cancer treatment centers of america. appointments available now.

have you seen lorena since the trial? >> yeah, once.

that was at a television show called "the insider." >> john and lorena bobbitt face-to-face. >> on that show you said that you still loved lorena. is that still true? >> i loved the woman she was.